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The tragedy of war … since 1400

The following chart gives a detailed account of war dead in conflicts since the beginning of the 14th century. (Click to enlarge: via Our World in Data)

Amazingly, the rate of death is near the lowest point it’s been in history. Now, of course, the world population in 1400 was about the same as it is in the combined population of the United States and Canada (about 350 million). There are 7.23 billion people in the world now.

But even with that. despite the more impersonal and highly more devastating weapons of mass destruction (nuclear weapons now, battle axes in the 1400s), somehow humanity as a whole is now resisting the urge to kill everybody in site.

Don’t get me wrong. Humanity still is filled with homicidal tendencies, but we don’t act on them at the same rate as we used to. That’s got to be good for something, right?